The present invention pertains primarily to retention or fastening means for retaining wheel trim on vehicle wheels.
Generally speaking, the function of automotive wheel trim is to decorate and/or protect the automotive wheel, and one of the major problems in the design of a commercially successful article of wheel trim concerns meeting the desired objectives of appearance, protection, location and retention in a trim which may be economically mass produced. Retention means for retaining wheel trim on the outer face of a vehicle wheel must function to reliably retain such wheel trim in the presence of rather severe stress and strain, but must also be such as to allow easy removability of the wheel trim for access to the vehicle wheel. Such a combination of performance characteristics has proven to be very difficult to provide and still be economical to produce.
In recent years, certain wheel trim has been fabricated of plastic since most plastic is relatively inexpensive, provides substantial weight reduction, and also provides greater flexibility in design than many of the stamped wheel trim materials of the past. The problems described above, however, are compounded with plastic because of its inherent stress limitations. Consequently, many of the prior art attempts to provide an adequate solution to the problem of plastic wheel trim retention at an economically attractive cost have not been successful.
It is a principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a novel retention means for retaining wheel trim, and particularly plastic wheel trim, on the outer face of a vehicle wheel, which retention is reliable, is easy to remove and yet provides superior retention, and is economical to manufacture.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.